These birds built an apartment block

Sociable weavers don’t just build individual nests. They create huge shared structures with separate chambers, sometimes hosting hundreds of birds and lasting through many generations. Under the great thatched roof are separate nesting chambers. The thick grass helps protect occupants against the heat of the day and the cold of the night in southern Africa. It is architecture with feathers: not one perfect blueprint, but many birds adding to something bigger than themselves. Other animals can use the structure too. Next time you pass a nest in a tree, imagine coming back to find an entire neighbourhood there. Nature has no shortage of ambitious builders.